100 Themes Challenge- Batman
by Spencer Quinn
Summary: This is my second themes challenge, and I want to make this one last. There's 100 Themes to write about, and I'm gonna try write them all. Wish me luck!
1. Introductions

**Introductions**

Sarah tapped her fingers together, looking into the mirror to her other friends—Lindsay, Rhys, Alex, Cody, Eliza and Matt. These seven teens were the newly proclaimed rogues entering the facility—and who would more commonly and preferably go by Chronic, Synth, Nexus, Flamo, Cryo, Iris and Trick. "So…"

"So? Whaddya mean 'so'?" Lindsay almost shouted, struggling with the straps on her wrists. If it wasn't for her eyes then Sarah wouldn't have found herself shaking in alarm.

"Never mind, forget I said anything," she said, frowning.

"Guys, can we maybe not fight when we're tied together?" Rhys asked, scowling at the two girls. "Seriously, it's too early in the morning for this crap."

"Is it even morning?" Alex wondered.

These guys are the result of a breakout of an orphanage gone horrifyingly wrong. If TYGER patrol wasn't securing the area, they would've gone off easily. But this wasn't the case. The next thing they realize, the squad's moved in on the misfits and they're knocked out. Now here they all were, in the middle of a small room, bound together by rope and getting even angrier by the second. Angry wasn't a good thing for the group of misfit teens.

"Exactly _where_ are we?" Eliza asked.

There was a little chiming sound. _"You are mine, new inmates. Let me introduce myself. I am Professor Hugo Strange, and I am in charge of the Arkham City facility," _a voice on the screen said. Everyone glared at the TV as Hugo Strange rambled on about something. Alex seemed to have reached his limit, and started turning bright red. Suddenly everyone felt the ropes getting hotter. Sarah looked at the source of it.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked her friend, who was practically blazing by this point.

"Flamo! Will ya stop? You're gonna burn us all! _We're roped together remember!?_" Cody cried out, feeling the heat build up. The rope frayed as the heat crawled along it.

"I had a knife, I could have used that," Matt said, rolling his eyes and ignoring the heat.

"Aw, you're just full of tricks aren't you?" Eliza griped.

"Just wait a few more seconds, will ya?" Alex scolded, lifting a blazing hand up to grab the rope, which soon burned to ashes in his hands and allowing them all to escape. However, as soon as they stood up an alarm started blaring.

"Aw! Perfect!" Eliza yelled over the noise. Two guards charged into the room and Lindsay lifted her fist up.

"Where did you feckless freaks put my violin?" she snarled. Rhys could see red bands of light forming around her fists as her knuckles cracked.

"Synth! Cut it out!" he shouted. A guard suddenly slammed his head into the screen and he gasped.

Synth clenched her teeth and walked over to a pole near her friend's head. Rhys was thrown to the ground and Lindsay bashed her fist against the wall. The red bands of light thickened and shot out in all directions, hitting the guards and nearly the others—had they not ducked down previously.

Sarah helped up Rhys and ran out the open door, where they were met by more guards and a lot of angry inmates. The seven teens froze.

"Aren't these guys from Blackgate?" Cody asked. "Crap. I thought it would just be the guys from Arkham! Chronic, get us out of here!"

Sarah nodded and looked around. "I believe I had a beret with me you twits!" she shouted inside. Suddenly, a floppy dark grey hat came flying at her face.  
"Thanks," she said, securing it on her head.

"Hey! You kids! Move up!" a guard ordered.

"Yeah, yeah! Leave your pants on!" Chronic shouted back.

"When we get in there, run like your lives depend on it," Rhys told Alex and Matt.

"Why, whaddya gonna do, Nexus?" Matt asked.

"Just watch when we get to the front, guys."

"I somehow get a bad feeling about how this would turn out," Alex muttered behind his hand to Matt, who nodded. That was until Nexus got to the front and the guards yelped before falling to the ground, twitching.

"Go! Run!" he shouted to his friends, who were already sprinting through the gates.

"If we split up then they're not gonna find us," Eliza told them as they sprinted out of the gates.

"Fine, see you guys soon," Synth said, changing direction and sprinting in another direction. The other misfits did the same.

Chronic suddenly had a round of bullets hot on her tail. "Oh my _GOD!"_ she cried out, running faster. She jumped over fallen debris and rubble, occasionally looking behind her to see if guards were still shooting at her. It would seem like she'd just entered a war zone.

"STOP THE SHOOTING YOU MORONS!" she shouted as her pace sped up. Then as she looked behind her again, a thought struck her. _Why am I still running!? I have powers for crying out loud! _

And so on that thought, she clapped her hands together and see everything become distorted before her surroundings stopped moving altogether—they were all frozen in time. From there she started to run to the safest place in the area: the church. She had fifteen more seconds to get there before everything caught up.

As time started catching up again, Chronic had made it halfway to the church, guards still coming in hot.

"Uh…do it again?" she asked herself, clicking her fingers. Again, things slowed down while she ran through the city at her normal pace. Fifteen seconds later she finally made it to the church and slammed the doors. The place was empty, consisting of a grand organ at the back where the altar used to be and several tea light candles scattered around the room.

"Okay, now I guess I'll just lay low here till they stop looking for me…let's hope the others got out of that okay."

"What the—? What do you think you're doing in here, kid!? This place is supposed to be empty!" a shocked voice shouted behind her. Chronic turned quickly on her heel with her fists raised.

"Riddler, I don't have time for you right now!" she shouted. Then as she pulled out her fists, Riddler pulled out his cane in response.

_Aw come on! That's not fair!_ Chronic shouted mentally, but she didn't break her stance. The criminal genius struck the cane at the girl's leg, however only struck across thin air. The girl appeared behind him and clouted him across the back of the head. She casually walked up to his fallen form and crouched to his level.

"How's it going down there, rid…_E. Nigma_?" she asked, reading the name tag on his shirt and smirking as his eyes widened. "Creative little puzzle, I must admit."

"Who are you, kid? How did you do that? Tell me!" he demanded.

"Enough of the _kid_ business! I'm 16 years old—not 8!"

The riddler rose to his feet, leaning against his cane until the distortion wore off. "What gives? I have problems already with trying to play a certain game."

"A brain teaser for the Bat—should have guessed. But I should be asking you the same question. I just spent the last thirty seconds trying to get away from TYGER guards! And on top of that—"

"Wait. Only thirty seconds?"

"Yes? Why?"

"That's not even possible. It would take one of my guys 30 minutes at the least to get past those TYGER Guards!" Riddler exclaimed. Now curiosity got the best of him. "Tell me—how did you do that? You got past the guards, you even got to me. What did you do?"

"I'm a Time Warper, riddle-freak." Just to prove that she started appearing in different locations in the church they were now in. Suddenly, as she tried to warp a fifth time, Riddler had somehow made it next to her and grabbed her hand—which was a common weak spot for her powers. "Hey. What's the deal here?" she asked, then looking down at her hand.

"Alright, you've proven your point," he told her. Chronic shrugged and dropped her hand to her side.

"So what do you want me for? You obviously haven't tried to kill me yet."

"Because you keep warping all over the place!"

"And for a good reason—you're probably going to kill me."

"How about I don't kill you if you answer my little riddle I have planned for the Dark Knight?"

Chronic snarled. "Fine," she said unenthusiastically. She got ready for the little puzzle she was about to get, almost dreading the question.

"Riddle me this. I am an instrument whose music always comes from the heart. What am I?"

The girl started to scan the room for any clues. It was then she remembered the organ sitting at the back of the church where the altar was. The altar—if she remembered correctly—was always the "Heart of God." The organ was sitting on the platform. She ran over to it and played a note. Riddler seemed pretty surprised by her quick answer.

"Riddler, if a teen with little brains in the morning is able to figure this out, then how do you think a rodent with wings would handle this?" she asked brazenly.

The criminal groaned. "Okay, I won't kill you…but you're not leaving either, Miss Time Warper," he added enigmatically.

Now panic was back. "Say what?"

"Miss Time Thief, the bottom line is this. You have more speed and power than any other kid I've seen—which is not many coming from me—and I have more brains and can think up more riddles than any other smart Alek in this city. We make a perfect team! You work with me and I'll keep you out of trouble from these guys. Deal?"

"First off, my name isn't Miss Time Warper! Too big a name to remember. My name is Chronic."

"And does Chronic have a _real_ identity?"

"Of course I…ooh, I know what you're trying to do—you're just lucky I'm your little sidekick, Riddler."

"So what is it?"

"Nope, too soon, Mr. Nigma. Riddle me _this!_ What does the E in Enigma stand for?"

The riddler folded his arms. "Very well then. Enigma is short Edward Nigma."

Chronic grinned. "And there's the key to getting the name of Sarah Axlewood, Eddie."

* * *

**Hello again. This is Spencer Quinn back again with **_**another**_** 100 Themes Challenge—except this one is going to be based around **_**Batman: Arkham Series**__**.**_** I thought of doing another crossover with **_**Sonic the Hedgehog**_** and **_**Ty the Tasmanian Tiger**_** but I thought this one would be better. **

**My thoughts on this chapter…meh. Just a filler. I don't like this theme. **

**This has been the first theme of the 100 Themes Challenge—stay tuned for more!**


	2. Love

**Love**

In the meantime, Chronic was walking around one of the rooms Edward had booked out for this…_little game_ he had planned, whistling the tune to _Dark Horse_. She had just finished trying to set up this little riddler room. The riddler wasn't around to see all the decorations she made…at least that's what she thought at first.

_"Chronic, get off the power grid,"_ an irritated voice said over the intercom. The time warper turned to see on the giant projector screen a rather peeved off Riddler, causing her to smile, shamelessly.

"What? It's not gonna be a _shocking_ experience, is it Eddie?" she shouted at the screen.

Edward facepalmed. _"Get off the grid and leave the puns to Joker__,__"_ he ordered her, deadpan. He frowned at the girl as she walked off the grid and poked her tongue at him.

"Lighten up, will ya, Riddle-boy? First thing you notice is me on the grid and not all the wonderful drawings I did on the walls—I even decorated our little playing piece up there," she told the screen, pointing at the doctor up on the platform. Chronic stared off into space, realizing something. "Sheesh, I sound like a little sister."

_"Yes. A little sister I have the adverse pleasure of taking care of,"_ Edward added sardonically. Chronic giggled.

"Oh, yes, you are _so_ lucky, _Big Brother_!" she shouted back, referring to the _1984_ movie she used to watch with her friends at school. Edward groaned at the reference, and Sarah could tell she was ticking him off. She pointed at the door. "I'm gonna leave now," she said, giving a thumbs up before exiting and the grid started up.

_"Remember to lock the door before you leave,"_ Edward told her from the intercom on the door, making her jump two feet off the ground and causing him to snigger. As Chronic recovered she grabbed a rock off the ground and aimed it at a question mark smeared on the wall above the exit. The rock hit the point of the question mark and a click behind her was heard, also signaling that she was allowed to leave now.

"I just love all these little riddles you have scattered around the place—you even have them to lock the doors!" Chronic said with a smile. "Pretty smart. I doubt the Bat's gonna solve these puzzles."

_"And if you stick with me, you too may know how to put these puzzles into action,"_ Riddler said with pride. He chuckled. _"It's easy,"_ he assured her as she left the building.

* * *

"Well, now the guards are gone—thanks to Chron," Synth told herself as she and Nexus made their way to the storage vault in Park Row. Without hassle the two slipped past the inmates hanging around and ducked around the corner.

Nexus looked at the inmates, then back at Synth. "So…plan? I don't want to read your thoughts in case—"

"—in case I throw you into the wall again," Lindsay finished, rolling her eyes at the memory. Then she looked back at the vault with a grin. "I need to get my violin back, and I'd prefer we didn't have company as I blow this joint up.

"No problem," Rhys told her, poking his head out from the corner. His eyes gleamed as the first inmate jolted and knocked the second one out, then the third and the fourth and the fifth…until there was just him left. Nexus blinked and the remaining inmate jolted again and tumbled to the ground.

"Now, bust down the vault!" he ordered.

"Give me that pipe over there," she charged back, pulling her hood over her head. Rhys nodded before grabbing the pipe and handing it to her. She bashed the pipe against the door and the sound of the pipe turned into green light waves strong enough to bust down the vault door.

"Now hurry up and grab what you need!" the younger one ordered as the rubble cleared.

"Do this, do that—when did we get _married?!_" Synth complained and ran into the vault, seeing in plain sight her violin case. She snatched it up and sped back out to catch up with Nexus, who was running full tilt out of Park Row before all those inmates come around.

About ten minutes later, they stopped in front of courthouse to catch their breath.

"How the heck did it come down to this, Lindsay?" Rhys panted.

Synth shook her head, unable to answer. As she looked up and around, something in the air caught her off-guard, even freaking out her companion. He started shaking and fell to the ground, screaming "SQUIRRELS!" at the top of his lungs.

"Squirrels?" Lindsay repeated, trying her best to hide her smirk. Rhys had this fear of squirrels for quite a long period of time—ever since he was about seven or eight—when a squirrel crawled onto his face and bit his nose after a mishap with a packet of peanuts. It suddenly hit the elder that they must have hit a place with a high fear toxicity level…

Wait…Fear toxin…?

"I thought that there's no fear toxins…" Lindsay told herself.

"GET THE SQUIRRELS OFF ME!" Nexus screamed.

"Sorry, Nex, but I gotta go find out how the heck this is happening…there's no squirrels here," she tried to tell him. She looked around and saw her hands glowing. Bizarre…

"They did that when I first got my powers," Lindsay muttered, remembering the event, "when Scarecrow raided the orphanage with fear toxin." She put her hands out in front of her, allowing them to lead the way to the strongest source.

While Synth was leaving, Nexus was having horrifying illusions of squirrels—at least a horde of them—scurrying all over him, grazing him, mauling him.

"GET THEM OFF! GET THEM OFF! GET THEM OFF!" he shrieked, brushing his hands over his arms to get the furry brown creatures off. This hallucination carried on for what felt like an eternity, but was only a matter of seconds when masked thugs lugged the screaming teen into the courthouse.

"What? What the hell—?" Nexus hollered, recovering from his screaming fit and realizing he was in trouble.

"This court is now in session," a voice said, and Rhys looked up to glance at the owner of the voice. He was just expecting to see one face, but much to his surprise received a harsh glare from two, instead.

"Holy hell…" he muttered in shock.

* * *

**Little bit of **_**stubborn**_** brother-sisterly relationship between Riddler and Chronic, and I thought I'd just throw in some Synth and Nexus teamwork. Short chapter with no ending. (I don't like this theme) **

**Plus, I may use some songs in future themes. ;)**

**This has been the second theme of the 100 Themes Challenge—stay tuned for more! **


	3. Light

**Light**

#Born of cold and winter air  
And mountain rain combining,  
This icy force both foul and fair  
Has a frozen heart worth mining

Cut through the heart, cold and clear  
Strike for love and strike for fear  
there's beauty and there's danger here  
Split the ice apart—# Cryo was singing, until Flamo coarsely chose to cut him off.

"Shut up, will you, Code? That song's getting on my nerves!" he shouted, anger slinking into his accent. Cody gazed at him with a vacant stare before concluding the song, in spite of his friend's emotions.

#Beware the frozen heart…# he chanted, chuckling as Alex suddenly broke out into a sprint chasing him. It was when his hands caught on fire that Cody started to fluster.

"Shut up, hoodlums!" Eliza groaned as she and Trick walked up front. "I thought the clown would be trouble—but _no_, you two idiots just topped it off."

"Get a funny bone, will ya, toots? They're not that bad," Matt tried to convince her, but failing miserably as she grabbed his arm and dragged it up his spine. "Ow! Hey! Watch the arm, Iris!" he barked.

"You call me 'toots' one more time and I swear you'll end up _losing_ the arm, Trick!" she hissed, indignantly.

Flamo calmed down from his blazing convulsion and noticed something peculiar. He dragged Eliza and Matt to the ground, behind a burnt and immobile car, while the girl was close to breaking off Matt's arm. Cryo ducked down too.

"What's going on?" he muttered. It was then that he saw they were outside the museum where political prisoners were doing a little morning patrol. It looked like they were talking about something important.

"Damn, I wish Nexus was here," Flamo muttered.

Iris nudged Trick's side and he glared at her…until he apprehended something five seconds later. "Oh right," he muttered, uncouthly rubbing the back of his neck. He poked his head over the pile of metal and tried to listen in on what the prisoners were saying.

_"This isn't looking good, is it?" _

_"Nope. Sounds like Joker's people are looking for Mister Freeze." _

_"Really? Didn't even know he was in here." _

_"Me neither. I read once that he just does what he does because of his wife. Something bad happened to her." _

"Something about Freeze," Matt reported to his companions. Cryo raised an eyebrow.

"Freeze? As in Mister Freeze? What the hell's he doing here?" he asked.

"He's a criminal, right? That must have something to do with it," Iris said.

Cryo frowned and decided to step out of hiding and freeze the inmates to the ground by their feet. Eliza jolted at his sudden reaction to stall the prisoners and tried to find a place to hide from his sudden rage. Flamo yelped as she started pulling on his arm.

Trick was following close behind the two when suddenly, a baseball bat hit him lightly on the chest, causing him to come to a halt.

"Uh uh uh, kiddo. You're comin' with me," a feminine voice told him, raising the racket so it was level with his eyes. He tried to look at who the person was but she poked at the side of his head and all he got a glimpse of were the colors the person wore—red and black.

"Okay, I'm moving!" he assured, secretly trying to pull something out of his sleeve. That caused the baseball club to descend on his arm. The boy's hand retracted.

"Don't try to pull a laugh on me, kid," the captor said, digging the bat into his spine.

"Okay, fine." As Trick walked on, he started thinking to himself, with a tinge of dismay in those little thoughts, _Great, I'm screwed. _

…

Synth had finally found the source where her powers shot through the roof. She looked around at her surroundings and saw she was outside the Industrial District. There was a barge sitting in the infested water.

"Could you possibly sink any lower, Scarecrow?" she muttered to herself. Suddenly she flinched as a piercing noise was heard, followed by a cackle that could have been fear itself as it finally jerked into her system.

_Oh fear…thou art a heartless bitch,_ she thought to herself, recovering from her slight lapse. The shrill squealing in the back of her head was not helping anything right now—dense bands of violet light waves were gathering in front of her face, concealing her vision. She could see one of the unfortunate individuals who had been around at the time fall to the ground, looking at her and screaming.

"I regret coming here now," Synth muttered, turning on her heel and fleeing. Immediately she came to a stop as a figure dropped down in front of her. The figure was hooded by a dark cape, but the face was covered by a mask made out of sackcloth and sewn loosely at the mouth, hazy grey eyes watching her from behind the mask. His frame was generally lanky, and on his right hand—now this was the most noticeable feature of all—was a strange glove with five syringes of fear toxin concealing his fingers. Confusion spawned in his eyes, and then anger.

"Aw come on, Scarecrow!" the girl screamed, furiously.

_"How are you still standing? The toxin should be affecting you now!"_ he growled, his voice sending chills down any _normal_ person's spine.

"How are you still _alive?_" Synth shouted back. Then she rose a hand up to signal him to stop before he'd even said anything. "Actually, you know what? Don't answer that—I've had a hell of a day already, so I'm afraid I'm gonna have to cut this chat short."

At the sound of those words, the scarecrow sneered. _"Interesting choice of words, my dear__.__ Tell me…what are you afraid of?" _

"Nice try, but I'm not scared of you," she said, pulling out her violin.

She played a few quick tunes on the violin and saw those thick violet light waves forming around her head. The violinist hit a high note, finally forcing the solid strips of light to go forward. They all smashed into the Scarecrow, and the aftermath involved him flying backwards into the wall behind him and his mask falling off his head. It was then Synth realized he was just an ordinary person. He had brown hair, which was plastered to his head at the moment, and light blue eyes. In reality, he was about as normal as any human being. And even worse, she knew personally who he was.

"Wait a sec...Jonathan? Jonathan Crane?" Synth asked, tilting her head to one side and pulling back the hood just far enough to keep the back part of her hair covered but can still see her face. Jonathan looked up in surprise.

When Synth was eight years old, her father had to go to work at a lab and he took his daughter with him. That was where she met Professor Jonathan Crane. Over the four years that they knew each other, they'd created a sort of friendship—like they were almost second family to each other—until that friendship was torn apart by Synth's father's death in the lab and…that godforsaken orphanage.

_**I thought that kid looked familiar, Jonny,**_Scarecrow muttered in irritation.

_Shut up. What do we do about her?_

No response came in return.

_Great, thanks for the support,_ Jonathan said with an eye roll. He turned his gaze back to the girl standing in front of him. "What're you doing in Arkham City, Lindsay?"

"It's Synth, now, Jon. I broke out of the orphanage," the girl told him, scratching her head with her bow. Synth cringed. "Plus, about that..." she started, waving her bow around as she spoke, "Er, it kind of explains why I'm not exactly scared of _fear toxin_ of all things. It did something a _little_ weirder...as you can probably tell." She grabbed Jonathan's hand and pulled him to his feet, while he just stared in shock to this information. "Do you know what it is?"

"N-No," he said as he pulled the mask back over his face. "Most people usually react differently when they're exposed to fear toxin."

"It's strange, because I know I'm supposed to be scared. But..." She shook her head, holding her hands out. "I'm not scared, basically."

_**"NOT scared?" How can she NOT be scared!? I've seen grown men twice her size fall in fear to the toxins!**_Scarecrow shouted. There was a second of silence before he spoke again. _**Jonny, this is telling us something**_—_**take her with us!**_

_Look who's talking! When we first met her, you said you didn't like the looks of this girl. In those exact words. _

_**Aw shut up. This is a sign, let her come with us. After all, if she resists the toxins then she would make the perfect muse of light, sound and fear!**_

_Agreed._

_**Ask her!**_

"Synth, would you like to come with us?" Jonathan asked, almost reluctantly.

Synth grinned slightly at this offer. "R-Really?" The girl frowned. "Erm…us?"

"I'll explain later. But if you're going to come with us, then we better keep you away from the fear toxin…"

"That's the only problem with the toxin—it could make my power stronger."

* * *

**This was a lesser in-depth one. But this theme was a little better—since Synth's powers actually complied to the title. And here's our little muse of light, sound and fear. **

**Song: **  
**Frozen Heart from Disney's **_**Frozen**_

**This has been the third theme for the 100 Themes Challenge—stay tuned for more!**


	4. Dark

**Dark**

Nexus was sitting on a chair in front of rampant inmates in a courtroom, in front of a sweltering pit of acid!

"Okay, anybody care to tell me what's going on?" he almost shrieked, struggling with the.

"Order in the court!" the attorney yelled out from the glass booth watching the federal court. Most of the inmates calmed down, silence falling over the courtroom. By this point, Rhys was feeling far above the normal fear limit. What did he do? Oh wait, it must have something to do with that fear stuff and screaming about all those _squirrels!_

"Er, this has nothing to do with those squirrels out there, does it?" he asked, looking into the attorney's eyes, concentrating enough to nearly hear his thoughts clearly.

_"Squirrels? Is this kid crazy?" _the lawyer asked mentally.

_**"Forget that! What's he doing on our territory anyway!? Especially after the last mishap!"**_ a darker voice demanded.

Nexus flinched—this dude has a dark side too? Then again, feasibly logical since half of his face was mutilated. But, if anything, he didn't exactly expect that dark side to talk _back_ to him! This was getting too freaking weird.

"Do I have the chance to plead my case in this whole testimony thing?" Rhys spoke up. All he got in reply was a threatening glare from the attorney's scarred side. "Please?"

"Tell me what you were doing out there and I might really believe you."

"Okay. I came in here with six other kids, we split up before we got into the city and then I see frickin' _squirrels_ darting at me! I _hate_ squirrels! There! That's my case!" he yelled, as a result of the panic. Now realizing who he'd mouthed off at, he seemed to shrink evidently in size and attitude. "You're not sentencing me now are ya…Harvey?" he asked, looking into the DA's eyes again and seeing a change in awareness—something along the lines of…shock? Surprise? "Harvey Dent, ex-district attorney, I used to do accounting jobs for community service. I didn't think you'd get _this_ bad, Two-Face," the boy convict continued, wavering slightly.

_**"Damn it Harv! He knows us! How did he do that!?"**_Two-Face asked mentally.

_"I did what I—" _Nexus started thinking, but he was surprised to hear a loud, sharp growl in reply in his head. No, not his head…_Harvey's _head.

It was then Nexus realized that he'd made the biggest mistake he'd ever thought of making—he'd interfered with another's thoughts! Man, Two-Face was gonna have his head now! He shrank even more. "Please be gentle…" he squeaked.

Harvey held up a double-headed coin—scarred on one side like he was—and leaned over to him. "Let's see what the coin thinks—heads, it's worth keeping you alive, or tails, I kill you here and now." The two-headed coin flew into the air and then allowed gravity to take its course. It fell in his right hand and he slammed it onto his left and revealed to himself the fate of Rhys Enright.

All Nexus' hopes were now depending on that trick coin.

Two-Face looked rather disappointed by the result. "Case dismissed," Harvey said.

"What? Was the coin on the good side?" Nexus asked, his tone hopeful.

The villain glared at him, looking down at his coin. "It was tails."

Confusion spawned. "Huh? You didn't spare me because I'm a kid, did you?"

Harvey's glare softened. "I have a better proposition for you, kid."

"Better proposition? What could possibly be better than sitting in front of an acid bath?" Nexus asked, wryly. He was impassive on the outside, but inside, he was literally praying to the heavens for the near-miss to oblivion.

…

Chronic had made herself a detour. She was supposed to be placing trophies around the city for Batman…but she'd gone straight to the museum and nabbed something that was too good for her to miss.

It was an average cane, nothing excessively major. But it was when she saw the hilt that she changed her mind about it—and she had the itching desire to steal it. The hilt was a crystal with two sides—one side blue and the other orange—with a pocket watch symbol fixed in the crystal like a fly in amber.

"I'm…_borrowing_ this," Chronic told herself, breaking the glass case with one of the riddler trophies she was supposed to be placing around Arkham City.

After that antic, the time warper was back to business, leaving no evidence that she was there. She did however leave evidence that Riddler was there.

_He's probably going to be ticked off,_ she thought to herself. Her first set location was just outside the Industrial District near the old Gotham FM building. "Just place a few trophies, paint parts of a giant question mark for Eddie to finish elsewhere, mess around with a couple of riddles, _then_ get out of here, Sarah," Chronic told herself as she walked up to a channel on the Gotham FM building.

Unexpectedly something shot her beret right off her head and she shrieked, dropping the trophies and wielding her new cane. She turned her head to see someone throw their rifle to the ground and start jumping and stamping and…basically having a tantrum.

"Damn it! You got in my way kid!" a voice started shouting. Chronic pivoted the rest of her body around.

"Well, excuse me! I don't think it's very nice pointing guns at people's heads, Hotshot!" she shouted back, aiming her cane at the person the voice belonged to. It turned out to be a sharpshooter armed with a distinctive range of guns, from rifles, shotguns, high-tech mechanisms, the list is endless, really.

"Just stay out of my way! I nearly got this!" the sharpshooter said, picking up his gun and aiming at his victim.

Chronic raised an eyebrow. "Got what?"

The firearm went off again and the girl thought it was directed at her again. So she did the first thing she could think of—block it with the new artefact she nabbed from the museum. The bullet deflected off the crystal on the cane and hit the brick wall.

The shooter threw his gun to the ground. "Will you stop doing that!? You made me miss my target!" he shouted, angrily, as a political prisoner ran away from the scene.

"Stop shooting at me!" She lifted her little satchel up to show him why she was around here. "Now do you mind? I want to place these around _carefully!_ And I can't do that with someone trying to shoot me!"

The shooter leaned against the railing and looked as the teenager started to climb up the building. "You must be that kid working with Riddler, right?" he said, knowingly.

"Yes, now do you mind? I'm trying to work," Chronic said as she started climbing up a conduit like she was a monkey, trophy in hand. "So who are you and what are you doing here?"

The sharpshooter scoffed. "What's a kid like you doing in Arkham City anyway?" he said, oblivious to her question.

"You didn't answer my question!"

"Fine, don't get tetchy with me, shorty. The name's Deadshot."

Deadshot…why the heck was that ringing alarm bells? "Wait, you're that Floyd Lawton guy going after the Bat five years ago, right?"

Deadshot grinned. "You and Riddler are just perfect for each other, y'know that?"

"How so?" she asked, climbing higher. By now, she was nearly halfway up the building. _I think I should stop here and paint that mark._

"Because he's the one trying to butt into other people's business."

Chronic turned her head to frown at Deadshot. "I do not butt into other people's business! Blame the teacher in Gotham History back at the orphanage."

"There's a Gotham History subject? What the heck did they teach in that school of yours?"

The time warper spray painted half of a question mark on the wall. "History of Gotham, how it came to be…then there was this topic about criminal records."

"And this has nothing to do with your sudden arrest?"

The girl laughed. "You ask a lot of questions dude!" she called as she threw the can to the ground and placed a riddler trophy next to her foot.

Chronic climbed back down and hoisted her haversack over her shoulder. It was then that she noticed a report plastered on the wall; about seven kids and whoever had found them first. She scratched her head. "How long has this been here, Deadshot?"

The sharpshooter shrugged. "I dunno. It was there before I got here," he replied.

The girl sneered. "A little warning next time would be great, Floyd," she said, reading the notice. Her eyes widened. "What the?"

…

When Chronic made it back to the hideout, she found that Edward was asleep with his head lying flat on the desk.

How the heck do you wake up a narcissist who's worked overtime? _Stick the problem right under his nose__,_ was Chronic's best answer.

BAM!

Edward jerked awake with a muted yelp and looked at the time warper. She had a cane with a blue and orange gem-fixed pinnacle in one hand, and what looked like a normal piece of paper in the other hand.

"Ed! Look at this!" Chronic said.

"Chron, a nudge would have done just fine," Edward moaned and decided to curl up again. The girl narrowed her eyes at her older "brother" and hacked her fist feebly at his shoulder, enough to wake him up. He grumbled and scowled at her wearily. "What is it?"

"I was posting trophies around the Industrial District and then I find this report!" she sneered, trying to stay composed and retain from screaming expletives at him.

The riddler peered at it, but for now, without his glasses, he could only see a hazy white smudge. "What am I looking at?"

The frown carved into her face. "Do I have to read it out? Fine. Reports of seven teenagers have been incarcerated in Arkham City. Anybody who finds them meet at the Steel Mill at 5pm _tonight_. Report by the Prince of Chaos."

Now Edward was awake, and he snatched the report out of his apprentice's hands. "What? Is he crazy!?" Then he rolled his eyes at his statement. "What am I saying? This is Joker we're talking about—of _course_ he's crazy!"

"Err…Edward?" she said, suspiciously.

"How would he know about you guys anyway?" the riddler cried. A thought abruptly came to him and he went pokerfaced. "Sarah."

Chronic cringed. She didn't like it when anyone who knew her alter ego used her real identity. "Y-Yeah?" she asked, nervously.

"Which one of your friends is a genuine troublemaker? And you all have powers?"

"Trick. He has enhanced superhuman abilities—ranging from strength, hearing, speed…why do you ask?"

Edward lifted up the report. "I know one person capable of getting people into her army. I think Joker's found your friend."

* * *

**I feel like I'm making this story more along the lines of Chronic, Nexus and Synth. Don't worry, I'll make it back to my other OCs! **

**Plus Harvey has a split persona that talks to him! I have the same thing happening for Jonathan too. **

**This has been the fourth theme of the 100 Themes Challenge—stay tuned for more!**


	5. Seeking Solace

**Seeking Solace**

_Oh, this was bad. This was bad on so many levels…_

These thoughts had been going through Synth's head for…a while now. She was out trying to get fresh air—since her powers grew to a new height due to the fear toxins back near the Industrial District—when suddenly, she sees this flyer.

_**Reports of seven teenagers have been incarcerated in Arkham City. Anybody who finds them meet at the Steel Mill at 5pm tonight. Report by the Prince of Chaos.**_

"Crap," the muse said, facepalming. She tore the flyer off the post it was fastened to and ran back to Jonathan's sanctuary.

"Jon, you in?" she called as she walked through the door.

"This is ridiculous…" the reply came. Synth froze, peeking her head around the corner to see Jonathan sitting on a chair, hunched over, his elbows sitting on his knees and head in his hands. "Just tell me, exactly _how_ did _Quinn__,_ of all people, find out about her so quickly?" Ten seconds of silence later, the scowl on Jonathan's face seemed to carve deeper into his forehead. He rose from his seat and gripped the phone tighter. "You listen here, if you don't tell me who that kid is"—Jonathan's voice suddenly changed into a much ghostlier tone and his eyes dimmed—_"I will unleash your greatest fears and break your mind into a thousand pieces, you shattered entity!" _

_Not now with the fear,_ Synth complained cerebrally, grabbing for her violin and dragging the bow across the strings. A clear high-pitched note played and a blue band of light knocked the phone out of his hand. Jonathan, who was still recovering from the sudden interruption, turned his head sharply to stare at the girl.

"Er…what's wrong?" she asked, now slightly troubled.

_"Jonathan isn't here right now, but if you'd like to leave a message…" _

Synth winced at this revelation—so now Jonathan was gone and he'd left an old childhood "friend" in charge. Great.

"Er…how long has it been now, Crow, since I last had to speak to you?"

_"Ten years, dear muse, because Jonny-Boy won't let me out." _

"Has it really been that long since I last saw you?" She shook her head, realizing she was getting sidetracked. Her tolerance was wearing really thin with Scarecrow. "Listen, either you or Jonathan said something about someone finding out about me."

Scarecrow narrowed his eyes. _"You were never this much of a hassle ten years ago." _

That was it, Synth just lost her patience. She grabbed his collar and pushed him into the wall. "Scarecrow! Tell me who that kid was!"

_"That's none of your concern, little muse!" _

"You better tell me, Scarecrow! It might just be my chance to see if my team are okay!" the girl shouted, pulling up the poster. Her irises shrank and threads of light started to float around her head.

Scarecrow's head jerked back and he went limp for a few seconds before looking around with a blank and confused look on his face. A frown appeared on his face at the sudden self-consciousness, and that Synth was holding him up by the collar. The threads of light looked like they were going to turn into hands and strangle him.

"Lindsay, what are you doing?" he asked, puzzlement crossed with anger generating in his voice.

Synth blinked and smiled, realizing that Scarecrow was gone now. "Jonathan?" she asked shrewdly, letting go of his collar and letting him drop to the ground.

"What did he say to you?"

"He didn't tell me _anything._ Maybe that was the problem."

"Hand over the poster."

Synth did as she was told and handed him the flyer. As he was scanning the poster, Lindsay was shifting from foot to foot trying to look over at the poster.

"Synth," he spoke up a little while later.

"Huh?"

"Who do you think your friends are with?"

"Well, Chronic has riddles for brains, so take a wild guess. Cryo and Flamo…can you guess?"

Jonathan nodded, a smirk slightly lighting up his face.

"Iris likes plants so I guess she'll be looking for Poison Ivy…er, Nexus…if it's not Mad Hatter then it's definitely Two-Face—he's got a dark side to him but he can manipulate people's minds. And Trick was probably the one who dobbed me in."

"If Joker has our attention then he has the Bat's—and probably even Strange's undivided attention."

"What do we do?"

Jonathan sighed. "_You're_ going over to the Steel Mill, _I_ need to stay here."

"Wait, what?"

"If the other villains see me then they're going to alert the Bat. You need to go over to the Steel Mill yourself."

"Okay, Jonathan, there are two problems to that. Number 1: I don't know where the Steel Mill is. Number 2: they asked for both the kids and the guys who found them, so we both have to go anyway."

Scarecrow scowled, hating that the girl was right. _"Fine. What do you think we should do, little muse?" _

Synth sighed, trying to think things over.

* * *

"Ever gone through the back way of this place, Eddie?" Sarah asked.

"Call me Eddie once more and I will throw you in one of the hostage rooms," the riddler threatened. "Anyways, I didn't get as far as the front door before one of the Abramovici twins kicked me out…with a hammer," he added, rubbing the back of his neck. Chronic muffled her laugh behind her hand. When they got closer to the door they could hear music and a droning sound echoing through the steel mill. Edward had to strain his hearing hard before he recognized it as singing.

_"City's breaking down on a camel's back_  
_They just have to go, cause they don't know whack_  
_So all you fill the streets, it's appealing to see_  
_You won't get out the county 'cos you're bad and free!"_

"Doesn't _that_ sound familiar?" Chronic said, listening to the monotone droning.

"It sounds like Joker tried to clip your friend's vocal cords," Edward said, cringing at how _bad _the singing sounded.

"Yeah, but unfortunately, Trick sang like that _before_ Joker even got him." She pushed on the door and fell to the ground when somebody opened it. She recovered her stance, with an awkward cough and cheeks flushing, and looked up to see Harley Quinn standing before her.

Chronic brushed herself off. "A little warning wouldn't hurt, would it, Miss Quinn?" she muttered, pulling faces to try and hide her indignity.

"You that _Chronic_ kid Trick was talking about?" the harlequin asked, scanning her over briefly and noticing her unjust eyes.

"Yeah?" the girl answered.

Harley turned around with a wide grin on her face. "More company, Mr. J!" she called before dragging her and Edward into the mill.

"Well, bring them in! Don't wanna leave them in the cold now, do we Harley?" Joker's voice hollered back.

* * *

**Nothing to report about this theme, except Joker always gets his way if all the villains are appearing at the Steel Mill. **

**This has been the fifth theme of the 100 Themes Challenge—stay tuned for more!**


End file.
